FOLLOWING the slew of allegations hurled at him over the past few weeks, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has gone on the offensive by labelling the country’s mainstream newspapers as “lies-papers” for reporting on his detractors’ claims.

In his speech during the Johor DAP state leaders’ retreat on Saturday, the Gelang Patah member of parliament took a swipe at the New Straits Times, Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia and The Star for allegedly “demonising” him and Pakatan Harapan.

Lim claimed the 14th General Election would be the “dirtiest in the nation’s history”, after the newspapers carried reports of his critics’ claim that he was calling the shots in the Pakatan Harapan pact, among others.

Incidentally, this was a repeat of the same allegation he made almost five years ago in the run-up to the previous general election in 2013.

He had claimed then that there were efforts by his enemies to portray him as the mastermind of the race riots on May 13, 1969.

“One of his claims is that the next general election would be the dirtiest in history. It would seem that every five years, Kit Siang repeats these claims.

“If you check his claims over the past three decades, every election seems to be the dirtiest in history. This claim is just a piece of propaganda that the opposition uses to create a perception of ‘unfairness’ among voters,” said political observer Lim Sian See.

Lim’s claim came despite the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat opposition front, which has since been reborn as Pakatan Harapan, eventually retaining both the Penang and Selangor state governments in the last polls.

The DAP had also delivered its best performance in any general election, winning 38 parliamentary and 95 state seats in GE13.

Lim also claimed that he was being vilified by the press and Umno for being “anti-Islam” and a “stooge of foreign powers”.

But, it was his former ally, Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who accused the former’s party of having discussions with the United States and other foreign countries to meddle in Malaysia’s political affairs.

And, it was his former ally, Pas Ulama chief Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed, who accused Lim of being “anti-Islam” as his party had been vocal in its opposition to the amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) to increase the power of the syariah courts.

This is not the first time Lim has run down media organisations. Last month, he flayed the media fraternity for allegedly being involved in a “high-powered and well-orchestrated campaign” to cause a rift in Pakatan Harapan.

In another development, relations between PKR and Pas hit a new low after PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli accused former Pas deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa of receiving funds from a former 1Malaysia Development Bhd subsidiary.

Both Nasharudin and the Pas top leadership have since denied Rafizi’s allegations, amid growing calls by Pas grassroots to sever ties with PKR, citing the lack of respect PKR had for bi-party relations.